This is a low stakes post. A simple list of the books I read but didn’t review. A few of them I had intended to review and never did; most were never going to be reviewed anyway. If I had some quick thoughts on the book being rated while I was writing this post, then I noted those thoughts down. But all I really want to say is “I read this, and here’s how good I think it was”, lol. You can find my rating scale here. (TL;DR ★★★ and up is a book I would recommend to at least someone, if not everyone.) This is a way to clear out my 2023 reads so I can focus my 2024 reads (and reviews).

Middle Grade

1. Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko ★★★
2. Hazel Hill is Gonna Win This One by Maggie Horne ★★★★
3. Hamra and the Jungle of Memories by Hanna Alkaf ★★½
   • As a kid, my favourite stories to read were ones that were more serious fantasies, ideally with lush prose. As an adult, those are still some of my favourite stories. So I was disappointed to find Hamra and the Jungle of Memories moves away from the style of Alka’s debut The Girl and the Ghost, which was my favourite middle grade read of 2020. I liked the premise but not the telling. I didn’t enjoy the jokes and silliness in this one. It also felt overly long, with the elements of the quest narrative not being as interesting as I’d hoped. As well, this is another story set in early COVID, which seems odd to me. The kids who are going to read this book were 4 to 8 years old in 2020, so I wonder what their perspective on that is.
4. Sir Callie and the Champions of Helston by Esme Symes-Smith ★★★
5. Speculation by Nisi Shawl ★★★½
   • A solid example of magical historical fiction – a short and sweet ghost story.
6. The Takeout by Tracey Badua ★★★½
   • Fun premise, easy reading. Badua is a middle grade author to watch.
7. The Witch’s Boy by Kelly Barnhill ★★★★
   • Knocked out a book I’ve owned for years! Enjoyed this much more than Barnhill’s recent The Ogress and the Orphans.

Non-Fiction

1. Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to be an Ally by Emily Ladau ★★★
   • If you don’t know anything about disability, this is a fine starting point, but it’s pretty basic.
2. Empire of Ice and Stone: The Disastrous and Heroic Voyage of the Karluk by Buddy Levy ★★★½
   • I was so excited for this book but I barely remember it. I think it offers a bit of different perspectives from Niven’s The Ice Master. There just isn’t much new to say.
   • I gave it five stars on Goodreads cos I still think it’s a great read if you don’t know anything about the Karluk, lol.
3. Following Gandalf: Epic Battles and Moral Victory in The Lord of the Rings by Matthew Dickerson ★★★★
   • Another book I’ve owned for a long time. This is one I read in early 2023 and do wish I had made notes for a review…
4. The Four-Dimensional Human: Ways of Being in the Digital World by Laurence Scott ★★½
   • This book had been on my TBR for a surprisingly long time – since Apr 2015, prior to me developing a wee interest in books about how humans interact with the digital world.
   • A lot of the time, I didn’t grasp what Scott was going on about. Or I found it too removed fro the topic of interest (“ways of being in the digital world”). There were a few moments where he wrote something that made me think, “Hmm! Yes!” but emphasis on ‘few’.
   • I found the most interesting bits were when he focused and reflected on how we interact with the digital world differently from how we interacted in the past in the ‘physical’ world. Ex the ease and accessibility of reviews, the concept and practice of ‘muting’ someone online, or the experience of bereavement when someone you know only through the digital world has died.
   • I also appreciated that he declines to judge the ethics or morals of participating in a digital world, and only focuses on how we are participating.
   • A choice quote: “Although most people would protest that they are ale to distinguish between the momentous and the trivial of social media’s content, it is nevertheless true that the medium itself encourages a homogenising of these extremes.” (pg 157)
5. The Last Imaginary Place: A Human History of the Arctic World by Robert McGhee ★★½
   • Another owned book knocked off the TBR. I remember thinking this book was a little weird and that it didn’t engage critically enough with the ‘human history of the Arctic’, but there were some interesting chapters where I learnt a few different things.
6. Let’s Talk About Race in Storytimes by Jessica Anne Bratt ★★★★
   • This is another book that’s a good introduction but if you’re already familiar with the topic, you might not learn much. I read it because I wanted to recommend it to library staff who I was working with at the time. It’s definitely a good read for anyone who hasn’t studied the topic before and is looking for concrete tips to put into practice.
7. Like, Comment, Subscribe: How YouTube Drives Google’s Dominance and Controls Our Culture by Mark Bergen ★★½
   • The subtitle overpromises on this one. It’s just another corporate history book. My interest is in YouTube culture and while there are pages throughout that mention it a bit (primarily when a corporate decision has an outsized impact on the culture), it’s mostly focused on YouTube as corporation. I learned one or two things about YouTube’s history which I didn’t know previously. I was familiar with most of it, having been a YouTube consumer since 2007. There were a few events that were interesting to read about because I remember experiencing them but didn’t really know the full story of what was going on (such as the 2017 adpocalyse). Nice to see a lot of input from Hank Green, at least!
8. Superfan: How Pop Culture Broke My Heart by Jen Sookfong Lee ★★★
   • I gave this four stars on Goodreads but I do not remember anything about it, EXCEPT it was less exploration of pop culture and more reflective memoir that I expected.

Young Adult & Adult Fiction

1. Black Powder War (Temeraire #3) by Naomi Novik ★★★½
   • This one gets 3.5 instead of 4 because I thought it dragged a bit in the middle.
2. The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean ★★½
   • Far more action thriller than fantasy. Less about book eating/mind eating than expected.
3. Devotion by Hannah Kent ★★★½
   • Dragged a bit in the middle but became more interesting after the dividing incident. Very Hannah Kent – bleak and historical with great prose.
4. Empire of Ivory (Temeraire #4) by Naomi Novik ★★★★
   • I am still not very comfy with reading pandemic style stories but this was another good Temeraire read.
5. Letter for the King by Tonke Dragt ★★★★
   • At the time of reading, I had planned to write a full review but never did. I quite enjoyed this quest narrative.
6. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher ★★★★★
   • A favourite read of 2023.
7. Self-Made Boys: A Great Gatsby Remix by Anna-Marie McLemore ★★★★
   • Give me all the queer Gatsby retellings, please. Another hit from McLemore.
8. She is a Haunting by Trang Tranh Tran ★★★★
   • I have mixed feelings on this book but I was fine with giving it four stars mostly for the prose and a couple other points lol.
9. The Theory of Crows by David A. Robertson ★★★★
   • My Dad and I meant to do this for Family Reads but I never pulled the post together 😅
10. Throne of Jade (Temeraire #2) by Naomi Novik ★★★★
11. Unraveller by Frances Hardinge ★★★★
    • Not my favourite Hardinge but definitely a good read.
12. Venom & Vow by Anna-Marie McLemore and Elliott McLemore ★★★½
    • Very cute to read a story co-written by these two! I thought the plot was a bit lacking, but overall it’s a good YA fantasy.
13. What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher ★★★
    • Not sure why I didn’t like this one so much – it just felt a little flat to me. Perhaps my expectations were too high after Nettle & Bone.

What’s a book you didn’t review in 2023 but still sticks in your mind?